Concerns over a shift in Fed’s easy monetary policy have hit several hedge funds hard during the third quarter. A number of sectors are in correction territory. More importantly, Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) underperformed the larger S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 14 percentage points between June 25, 2015 and October 30, 2015. Hedge funds and institutional investors tracked by Insider Monkey usually invest a disproportionate amount of their portfolios in smaller cap stocks. We have been receiving indications that hedge funds were paring back their overall exposure and this is one of the factors behind the recent movements in major indices. In this article, we will take a closer look at hedge fund sentiment towards EPAM Systems Inc (NYSE:EPAM).
Is EPAM Systems Inc the right investment to pursue these days? Prominent investors are turning less bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund positions went down by 1 in recent months. EPAM was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with EPAM holdings at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity, but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as BankUnited (NYSE:BKU), Tenet Healthcare Corp (NYSE:THC), and Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) to gather more data points.
Follow Epam Systems Inc. (NYSE:EPAM)
Follow Epam Systems Inc. (NYSE:EPAM)
At the moment there are a multitude of signals stock market investors have at their disposal to value stocks. A couple of the best signals are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can beat the market by a solid amount (see the details here).
With all of this in mind, let’s go over the latest action encompassing EPAM Systems Inc (NYSE:EPAM).
How have hedgies been trading EPAM Systems Inc (NYSE:EPAM)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, down by 5% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Southpoint Capital Advisors, managed by John Smith Clark, holds the largest position in EPAM Systems Inc (NYSE:EPAM). The fund reportedly holds a $130.4 million position in the stock, comprising 5.8% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Newbrook Capital Advisors, led by Robert Boucai, holding a $54.9 million position; the fund has 7.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism contain Matthew A. Weatherbie’s Weatherbie Capital, Alex Sacerdote’s Whale Rock Capital Management and Sahm Adrangi’s Kerrisdale Capital.
